Wednesday, November 28, 2007

With less than a week to go until the end of the month I was wondering how close the race for the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month (ROM) would be.

At first glance I assumed that Kevin Durant would win hands down. After all he has averaged 34 mpg, 19.5 ppg and 4.3 rpg. However he is shooting only 39.3% from the field, 27.8% from the arc and commits 3.19 turnovers per game. Durant's high game for the season has been 27 pts.

Juan Carlos Navarro on the other hand is averaging only 10.5 ppg and 2.1 rpg to go with 2.0 apg but are those numbers misleading? As a starter in three games Navarro is averaging 17.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.2 apg and shooting 51.7% from the field and 38.9% from the arc. Twice already despite the far fewer minutes played Navarro has scored 28 points in a game.So who is more deserving of the rookie of the month award? The player who has contributed the most to his team or the player who is being given minutes despite his poor play and who is not shooting efficiently?

I know that this is a silly discussion. Durant has the award already being shipped out to Seattle but just the same someone should be putting out press clippings on Juan Carlos Navarro. He may not win the award but he has been at least been good enough to raise the discussion.

2 comments:

i personally like navarro right now. mind you his is much older than durant, but he is still a rookie. he looks polished and contributes at a better rate (per minute). durant does have a lot of turnovers, but he has the ball in his hands a lot.

ESPN has ranked navarra a the top rookie right now, and i tend to agree, so far anyways. lets see how the season unfolds.